Fruit dumper



July 11, 1933.

c. GRIFFITH El AL FRUIT DUMPEH Filed Jan. 4, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventors M c. Griffdh :7. G Griffith July 11, 1933. GHFFITH ET AL 1,917,709

FRUIT BUMPER Filed Jan. 4,1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 l Inventor:

July 11, 1933.

C. GRIFFITH ET AL FRUIT DUMPER Filed Jan. 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented July 11, 1933 astral). stares PATENT OFFICE I CLIFFORD GRIFFITH AND J. GILBERT GRIFFITH, J5 ENTIAT, ASHINGXIOlll FRUIT BUMPER Application filed anuary 4, 1933. Serial Ho. 650,172.

This invention relates to a device for emptying boxes of fruit, which-fruit are to be subsequently graded or sorted.

In accordance with the present invention means is provided for inverting the filled boxes of fruit, together with conveyor means objects and advantages will he. best'unden stood from a study of theiollowing descrip- 7 tion, taken inconneoti'on with the accompany-.

ing drawings wherein.

Figure 1. is atop plan. view of the device. Figure 2 is an elevational'viet-v of one side of the device. l 1

Figure 3 is an elevational view of an op- Figure 4: is a vertical sectional view through the device. v Figure 5 is a sectional. View taken; substantially on the line 5-15 of Figure 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows. Figure 6 is a plan viewof a box hiting de vice. v

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken substan.

tially on the line 7;- 7 of Figure 6.

Figure Sis a plan viewof ash-aft and a cam associated therewith, and

Figure 9 is a fragmentary sectionalview showing the manner inwhich the hoXto-be lifted is engaged by the lifting device shown in Figure 6; I 7

Referring to the drawings by'reference numerals it will be seen that 10 designatcsgenerally a table of suitable frame construction and provided in the topthereof with a roller conveyor designated generally b v'the refer; ence character 11 and along which the boxes 12 of fruit are caused to traveltoward a device for inverting the boxes 12. I Th device just mentioned for inverting the boxes 12 comprises a shaft 13 that isrotata bly supportedbetween a pair of uprights 1 Substantially L-sh'aped. arms 15. are secured atone end to the shaft 13 for rockinjg movement withthe. shaft, and have free fenfdslfi normally arranged in the full line position elevational shown inFigure 2 to engage beneath the bottomof a be 12' as shown in said figure.

' Suitably journalled transversely in the table 10; is a shaft 17 provided on one end with a crank arm 18 towhich is pivoted a bar 19 arranged to slide through a suitable guide 20 provided adjacent the upper end or. one of the standards-1:4; At itsupper end the rod 19 is provided with a rack 21 engageable' with a gear wheel 22 provided on the adjacent end of the shaft 13, and obviously through the medium offlthe rack 21 engaging the gear 22, the motion of the shaft 17 is transmitted to the shaft 13 for swinging the arm15 upwardly to invert the box 12 in the manner suggested in Figure 2.

As will be noted from a study of Figure 4 the filled boxes 12 havetheir lids removed before the boxes are fed to th e box dumping or inverting device just described. To close the box as the same is being inverted there is provided a lid member 23 that is pivoted as at 2 to the free ends of a pair of L-shaped arms 25..and these arms 25 arcprovided with bearings'26 engaged with the shaft 1*3-101'v supporting the arms 25 in a manner to-rotate relative to the shaft. On; the ends ofthe bearing 26 are fixed pulleys 27 overwhich are trained chainsor similar flexible elemenis intermediate its end is integral with one-end of a link 30. At its free end link 30 is pivoted to one end of a lever 31 that in turn is pivoted to a lower cross bar 32. The lever 31 1s :arrangedin the path eta cam thatis fixed to the shaft-"17 and rotates with the.

shaft. Thus it will be seen that asshatt l7 rotates in a clockwise llr8CtlOIl.,Ql in the d1v rection indicated by the arrowsin Figure 4.

the cam will cause the-lever 31 toswing down waroly thus exerting a pull on the chains 28 causing the arms25- to swing upwardly and in an anti clockwise direction at about the same time that the arms 16. are swinging upwardly in a clockwise direction so that when the b03121 is in the tilted positionsug gestedin' Figure 2 the lid 23 willengagethe open top of the box as shown in said figure.

lee

tor lifting the box so that the contents thereof will discharge from the box and on to an endless conveyor 34 that 1s suitably mounted in the top of the table 10 and is driven through the medium of a chain and sprocket mechanism 35 from a suitably mounted stub shaft 36 that is in turn driven fromthe shaft 17 through the medium of gearing 37. In the present instance shaft17 is driven from an electric motor 38 that has a chain and sprocket drive connection with the shaft 17 as at 39.

The aforementioned means for raising the inverted box 12comprises a pair of arms 40 pivoted to standards 41 rising from the table at that end of the conveyor 34 remote from the. box inverting .device aforementioned. The arms 40 are connected by a cross bar 42. Pivoted to the free ends of the arms 40 are fingers 43 while pivoted to the cross bar 42 adjacent one end of the latter is a lever 44. Lever 44 at one side of its pivot is'operatively connected with that linger 43 farthest remote from the pivot of the lever through the medium of a link 45. A relatively short link 46 connects the lever 44 at a relatively opposite side of-its pivot with the approximate end of the other finger 43 as shown in Figures 6 and 7. The fingers 43 intermediate their ends are connected by a coil spring 47. Normally the parts just described are in the position suggested in Figure 6.

The lever 44 at its provide a stop 48 that is engageal'ile with a lower trip 49 provided on one of the standards 41 to swing the lever past center and thereby spread the fingers 43 apart against the action oi spring 47 so as to receive between the fingers the box 12 in the manner suggested in Figure 2.

To secure the box between thev lingers 43, said lingers at their free ends are provided with pairs of screws 50 that are secured at the desired adjustment through the medium of lock nuts; 51; and are provided at their free ends with "points to penetrate the sides of the box as suggested in Figure 9.

arms 40 move upwardly carrying the box 12; the contents of the box will discharge there from.

The box carrying device just described arranged in operative position to one ,endo't 5 a conveyor 52 that is disposed above the con free end is formed to V viously. as the fingers 43. together with the veyor 34 and which is adapted to receive the empty box for conveying the latter to a remote location, to be again filled, or for any other purpose. As the fingers 43 reach the limit of their upward swinging movement, the stop 48 on the lever 44 engages an upper trip 53 rising vertically from a standard 41, and the lever is thereby pushed passed center again swinging the lingers 42 outwardly away from one another against the action of the spring 47 to release the box, thus permitting the empty box to be moved along by the conveyor 52'.

For swinging the arms 42 and associated parts, there is provided on the shaft 17 a crank arm 53 that is operatively connected with one of the arms 40 through the medium of a link 54.

To direct the fruit on to the conveyor 34 means is provided for tilting the lid 23 subsequent to a removal of the inverted box 12.

The tilting means for the lid 23 comprises a plunger 55 that is vertically shiftable through a guide 56and at its upper end e11- gages the under side of the lid 23 in the manner suggested in Figure 4. At its lower end the plunger 55 is pivotally connected to one end of a lever 57 that is pivoted to an upper cross bar 58. Lever 57 is arranged in the path of a lateral roller 59 provided on the cam 33 and thus, as the cam 33 rotates the lever 57 will be caused to swing up and down for reciprocating the plunger 55 and thereby tilt the member 23 when the arms 26 carrying said member are in the position shown in Figure 4 and subsequent to a removal of the inverted box.

To control the feeding of the boxes 12 to the box inverting device there provided at relatively opposite sides of the roller conveyor 11, a pair of skids 6O pivoted at one end to the sides of the table 10, and at their free ends, the skids are engaged with one end of levers 61 that are also pivoted intermediate their ends to the sides of the table 1.0. At their otherends the levers 61 are arranged in the path of the ends 16 of the arms 15 shown in Figure 2. Provided on the free ends of skids are engaged with the forwardmost box 12 and'serve as a brake to prevent further progress of the boxes. As the arms 15 swing upwardly to the dotted line position showm in Figure2 weights 63 will cause the skids 60 to swing downwardly for depressing the ends of the levers 61 engaged with said free ends of the skids 60. The forwardmost box 12 may then be moved forwardly-into engagement with the stop 64: and thus be in a position to be placed above the ends 16 of the arms 15 upon return of the arm 15 to their normal position. Obviously as the arms 15 return to their normal position they will engage the levers 61 causing the latterto' swing to the position shown in Figure .2 lowering the stop 6+: whereby the said box 12 previously engaged with the stop may be moved along'the conveyor 11 and into the full line position shown in Figure 2 above the ends 16 of arms 15.

Manifestly with the filled box thusin operative position with respect to the arms 15, upon upward swinging movement of the arms, the box will swing upwardly and the lid 23 will be applied to the top of the box,

in the manner hereinbefore mentioned, and the box subsequently inverted. Next the box will be raised from off the lid 23 and placed on to the conveyor 52 as also hereinbefore fully described, and the fruit discharged from the box will, upon a tilting of the lid 23 pass onto the conveyor 34 and from the conveyor 34 be conveyed (in the direction of the arrow shown in Figure 4 directly above the conveyor 34) to one end of the table, and

from the conveyor 34 be directed in any suit able manner to a grading or sorting device or the like.

Even though we have herein shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the same is susceptible of further changes, modifica-v tions and improvements coming within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new is:

1. in a device of tie character des ribed, a pair of supporting standards, a shaft rotatably supported between said standards, and a pair of angular box engaging arms 7 connected at one end with said shaft for rotation therewith, means for rotatingsaid shaft, a second pair of arms connected at one end with said shaft for rotation relative thereto, a lid carried by the second named arms for engaging the open side of the box carried by the first named arms, and means for rotating the second named pair of arms in reverse direction relative to the first named pair of arms for moving said lid into operative position to the box during tilt-ing, movement of the box.

2. In a device of the character described, a. pair of supporting standards, a shaft rotatably supported between said 'standar is,

" and a pair of angular box engaging arms connected at one end with said shaft for retation therewith, means for rotating said shaft, a second pair of arms connected at one end with said shaft for rotation relative thereto, a lid carried by the second named tation therewith, means for rotating said shaft, a second pair of armsconnected atone end with said shaft for rotation relative thereto, a lid carried by the second named arms for engaging the open side of the box carried by the first named arms, and means for rotating the second named pair of arms for moving said lid into operative position to the box during tilting movement of the box, conveyor means for conveying boxes to the first named pair of arms, and additional conveyor means for receiving the contents of a box subsequentto an inverting of said box. and means engageable with said lid for tilting the same relative to the second named pair of arms subsequent to the inverting of said box.

l. In a device of the character described, a pair of supporting standards, a shaft rotatably supported between said standards,

and a pair of angular box engaging arms connected at one QIldWVltll said shaftfor r0 tation therewith, means for rotating said shaft, a second pair of arms connected at one end with said shaft for rotation relative thereto, a lid carried bythe second named arms for engaging the open side of the box earned by the first named arms, and means for rotating the second named pair of arms for moving said lidintooperative position to the box during tilting movement ofthe box, conveyor means for conveying boxes to the first named pair of arms, and additional conveyor means for receiving the contents of a box subsequent to an inverting of said box, and means engageable with said lid for tilting the same relative to the second named pair of armssubsequent to the inverting of said box, and means for lifting said box fronr said lid'subsequent to the inverting of said box. I

' 5. In a device of the character described, a pair of supporting standards, a shaft rotatably supported between said standards, and a pair of angular box engaging arms connected at oneoend with said shaft for rotation therewith, means for rotating said shaft, a

second pairfof arms connected at one end with said shaft for rotation relative thereto, a lid carried byv the second named arms for engaging the open side of the box carried by the iio first named arms, and means for rotating the second named pair of arms for moving said lid into operative position to the box during tilting movement ofthe box, conveyor means for conveying boxes to the firstnamed pair of arms, and additional conveyor means for receiving the contents of a box subsequent to an inverting of said box, and means engageable with said lid for tilting the same relative to the second named pair of arms subsequent to the inverting of said box, and means for lifting said box from said head subsequentto the inverting of said box, said last named means including a pair of arms pivotally mounted at one end, fingerspivotally mounted intermediate their ends to said arms, means tures.

' CLIFFORD GRIFFITH. J. GILBERT GRIFFITH. 

